


this is our district, district 9

by jisxngie



Series: stray kiddos [1]
Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Future, Gen, HELLO ALL IM BACK, ICB THE ENTIRE ALBUM IS A B O P, STAN TALENT STAN STRAY KIDS, a lil bit of woochan if you use one of those super strong microscopes, based on district 9, i made s o m a n y references to their songs it isnt funny lmao, so this was born lmao, teen and up for swearing, their debut mv got me thinking, unbetaed bc im lazy as fcuk lmaoo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-30
Updated: 2018-03-30
Packaged: 2019-04-14 21:48:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14145294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jisxngie/pseuds/jisxngie
Summary: jisung had grown up being told he’d be different, a rule breaker, astray kid. he’d grown with strict rules, strict protocols, all of which he followed without question.(based on the district 9 mv)





	this is our district, district 9

**Author's Note:**

> this was so much fun to write you dont even understand

white, white, _white_. it’s all jisung sees when he strides right behind hyunjin. everything’s uniform, everything’s placed perfectly in their places. jisung stops, turns, stands by the door he’s supposed to guard before chris, the head of the guards, comes by to check all of them in as present.

“arms out, identification codes bared.”

almost robotically, jisung pulls his sleeve back a bit, bending his left arm at waist height. the barcode looking mark tattooed against pale skin almost glows in the bluish light of the hallways. chris comes past, pushing the machine jisung’s gotten too familiar to, scanning the marks on woojin’s wrist, then minho, changbin and hyunjin.

chris stops at hyunjin, looking into unwavering eyes. he grabs the tall boy’s hand with his right and scans with his left. when he moves away, jisung can see the flash of a bright red tube looking object in hyunjin’s hand before he closes his palm and returns his arm to his side.

chris scans jisung, and jisung follows protocol; drops his arm down again, straightens up, doesn’t dare make a single sound.

it’s a process that’s become tiring, but that’s just how their society’s system works;

it expects perfection.

jisung had grown up being told he’d be different, a rule breaker, a _stray kid_. he’d grown with strict rules, strict protocols, all of which he followed without question.

it was his mother, a stray who was banished from the sector before he turned 10, who had told him this.

to this day, almost 8 years later, he still believes in her.

when chris finishes, moving past them to the elevator to move on to sector 5, hyunjin turns his head to look out at chris leaving, and he turns his head back after the male has left.

jisung is still curious about the red object.

 

 

jisung doesn’t know what’s happening when chris passes by him in the courtyard to mumble something into jeongin’s ear. the youngest guard simply nods, an almost soulless, ‘yes, sir’, falling from his lips. jisung’s fingers tingle from where they’re hovering just above his keyboard.

“woojin, minho, changbin, jisung, felix and seungmin, remain in your assigned quarters after dinner hall tomorrow evening. it is not necessary for you to report to night guard.”

jisung’s leg cramps, but he doesn’t dare move, instead speaking a clear, firm, ‘yes sir’, before chris is passing by all eight of them to check up on sector 7.

what is chris _doing_? if the head of sector 4 ever found out about him allowing them to not report to night guard, let alone to stay in their assigned quarters, the nine of them would be banished to the land of the strays.

(jisung isn’t about to lie) it sounds scary, but he’s ready and that scares him even more. he’s always been told that the land of the strays is a terrible place, that those who are banished are erased from existence, from the database this _fake_ world has fabricated. jisung’s been told to never disobey, to never stray from the perfect little world his society’s built up.

but, you know, being different sounds like something fun.

jisung was born to be different.

 

 

at this point, he knows what he’s typing off by heart. it doesn’t even come off as a second thought as chris stops to look at his coding before walking off to check felix’s. everything is the same, every single day.

everything is monotone, a canvas splashed with black and white. except for that one flower just to the right of seungmin.

that flower is _different_ ; bright and beautiful, red and yellow. jisung glances at it when chris turns and walks over to it, bringing a hand up to it.

a siren goes off in the background, a robotic voice signalling the beginning of a new hour. 6:00pm, dinner hall.

“everyone, you may now stop programming. head to dinner hall. the guards i mentioned yesterday, return to your quarters afterwards.”

“yes, sir.”

dinner hall is the only time when jisung can speak with the other guards. he makes the most of it.

“so, why do you think chris told all of us except for hyunjin and jeongin to stay behind in our quarters?” felix asks around a mouthful of bland mashed potatoes.  
“i dunno, must be an important message or something,” minho hums, his arm pressing almost uncomfortably against jisung’s.  
“maybe there’s been a breach?” seungmin suggests, nibbling at the carrot on his fork.  
“no, i don’t think so,” jisung pipes up, “they’d have a warning message for that, wouldn’t they?”  
“for once, i’m with jisung on this.” changbin sips his coke, looking across the table.

jisung hums, placing his spoon back into his now empty bowl of soup.

“jisung, your mum was a stray, right? maybe it’s about the land of the strays?” woojin suggests, shrugging his shoulders.

one of the guards in sector 6, sungjin, waves to them as he passes by with a smile and a quick, ‘hello’. he doesn’t know about the happenings in sector 4.

“i don’t know, maybe? my mum’s been banished for 8 years now, who knows,” jisung sighs, sipping at his coke.

“but did you guys see the red and yellow flower in the gardens?” seungmin pipes up.  
“wait, what?” woojin asks.  
“there was a _coloured_ flower in the gardens?” changbin furrows his brows.  
“yeah, i saw it too,” jisung speaks, “chris went up to it and touched it.”  
“you think we’re the only ones to have seen something like that?” hyunjin asks, speaking after a long while of silence. even he sounds surprised.  
“probably. i’ve seen sector 5 and it’s all black and white as per usual,” jeongin mumbles around the straw to his milkshake.

“guys, there’s a drone that’s been knocked out from the air. the barrier between here and the land of the strays is wearing thin.”

the eight of them look up and jaebum is there, sector 7’s white uniform and all. he’s got a tablet in his hand, the screen glitching out.

“yes, sir.”

when jaebum walks off, it’s almost dead silent.

“why do i feel…” woojin holds a hand over his heart, “...excited?”  
“same,” minho hums, looking at his hands, “what is this?”  
“they say that people are born different,” jisung hums, still sipping his coke.  
“but why does it feel like we’re all the same?” felix questions, drawing patterns against the metal of the table.

“because that’s how they get us to obey. they brainwash us into the same system, the one that expects perfection,” jisung drawls, his knee knocking against minho’s. “the coloured flower that appeared on the hedge between seungmin and i? that’s probably a sign, a forewarning for what’s about to happen. the drone? probably another sign. another sign that some of us were born to be _different_. why else would it fall out of the sky like that? the head guards here are fucking perfect. they have _never_ made a mistake with those things.”

“jisung’s right. like why _would_ a drone with the perfect coding just...fall from the sky like that?” woojin holds his hands up in a questioning manner.

right as he says that, the siren signalling them to night duty goes off.

“okay, we’ll see you guys later,” hyunjin throws an arm around jeongin’s shoulders, waving to the rest of them as they nod and turn to return to the living quarters.

 

 

when jisung sits in the chair situated in the middle of his room, silence fills the air. he fiddles with the material of his pants, the white fabric smooth between rough fingers.

he straightens up, palms flat on his thighs when he hears the beep and click of his room being unlocked. chris pokes his head through, raven hair falling into his eyes as he does so.

“jisung, no need to be formal right now.”

jisung slouches his shoulders at that, back curving a little.

“chris? what’s happening?”  
“here. take this.”

chris places a folded red piece of paper in jisung’s hand, stepping back.

“read it, it’s important.”

when jisung unfolds the red piece of paper, there’s a whole bunch of words written there.

'tango, hotel, echo  
bravo, alpha, romeo, romeo, india, echo, romeo  
bravo, echo, tango, whiskey, echo, echo, november  
tango, hotel, echo, india, romeo  
whiskey, oscar, romeo, lima, delta  
alpha, november, delta  
oscar, uniform, romeo, sierra  
india, sierra  
alpha, tango  
india, tango, sierra  
tango, hotel, india, november, november, echo, sierra, tango  
echo, sierra, charlie, alpha, papa, echo  
november, oscar, whiskey  
whiskey, hotel, india, lima, echo  
whiskey, echo  
sierra, tango, india, lima, lima  
charlie, alpha, november' 

jisung looks up at chris, eyes narrowed. chris has _never_ showed signs of wanting to leave, to escape to the land of strays.

“what do you mean?” jisung asks, raising an eyebrow. chris smiles down at him, holding up a set of keys and twirling them around his index finger. jisung gasps; they’re the headmasters keys. how the hell did chris—?

“well, the nine of us are born to be stray kids, aren’t we?”

“chris, i’m still confused,” jisung stands, cocking his head to the side, “what the actual fuck do you mean?”  
“our markings, jisung. it’s the marks on our wrists. they’re different from the others.”  
“what, how?”  
“look at the numbers printed on your skin, figure out the letters they correspond to.”

jisung pulls his sleeve up hastily, looking at the identification numbers at the bottom of the barcode looking mark.

true to chris’ word, the numbers printed there are _19, 20, 18, 1 and 25_.

“everybody else’s spells out their full name and the number of the sector they’re in,” chris has still got his small smile on his face, “we’re the unique ones, ji. we’re the glitch hidden among this monotonous world.”

jisung looks into chris’ unwavering eyes, his hands shaking in front of him.

“it’s your choice; join me and the others, or remain in this society where everything is perfected, programmed, fabricated, _fake_.”

“...are the others actually going?”  
“of course. they’re sick here, they haven’t seen real sunlight in _years_.”

jisung takes a glance around his room, at the all white furniture and bluish-purple lights illuminating them.

he decides it’ll be his last glance.

“fuck it, i’m in. let’s be the stray kids we were born to be.”

chris smiles again, “now that’s the attitude we want.”

 

 

when they all report to night guard and join hyunjin and jeongin, the duo smile at them knowingly.

the plan is for chris to check them all in for attendance, then they ride out their plan.

it goes smoothly, and when chris is done scanning jeongin, he turns and looks at all of them. chris smiles, pushing the machine towards the elevator to check on sector 5.

when chris is gone, jisung and changbin move.

“guys, what—” jeongin is cut off when jisung speaks.  
“chris deactivated the security cameras. managed to sneak the headmaster’s set of keys too,” jisung explains, as he sets the timer on the explosive in front of the door he’s meant to be guarding.  
“the plan is to set off the containment breach alarm so everyone’s distracted, then we escape through the hatch we’re technically not allowed in, through to the back of the building where chris has a bus to get through the weakest part of the barrier,” changbin says, duct taping the handmade explosive to the handle of the door he’s supposed to be guarding.

hyunjin walks over to the balcony railing and looks up two floors above. he can _just_ see the cords of the machine that chris pushes around.

“alright, we have five minutes before these babies blow up,” jisung stands, backing away, “let’s do this.”

the eight of them hurriedly walk to the other end of the walkway, as far away from the explosives as possible.

woojin grabs his phone out of his pocket, unlocking it and bringing up the caller menu. he’s not supposed to have his phone, none of them are, it’s just something that’s standard protocol.

but strays don’t listen, strays disobey, strays make their own rules.

“chris, bombs are set. you have 3 minutes,” woojin says into the phone, to which the boy on the other end of the line answers with a quick, ‘okay, see you soon’, before the call is cut.

“ya’ll ready to run?” jisung turns and smiles, his standing near the scanner on the door to the hatch they normally can’t access without the markings of a higher up. thank god chris is good at manipulating the system at will. the beeps of the explosives sound eerily down the walkway, and jeongin clings onto minho’s arm. hyunjin is still on watch for the guards in sector 5.

“chris is coming down, get ready,” hyunjin announces,

the time on the explosives reads 00:00:14 when chris exits the elevator, raven hair a mess, sleeves rolled up to his elbows.

“let’s get the fuck out of here,” chris pants, out of breath. he raises his wrist to the scanner, letting it analyse his markings before it opens, revealing a pathway none of them have ever seen.

the bombs explode, blaring sirens go off.

_WARNING: CONTAINMENT BREACH DETECTED IN SECTOR 4  
WARNING: CONTAINMENT BREACH DETECTED IN SECTOR 4_

chris huddles them all into the hallway before following them in himself, shutting and locking the door behind them before any of the other guards can get to their sector.

“keep going straight and run!” chris yells, pushing changbin and felix along before they all settle on a pace.

hyunjin is leading them, long legs taking him past numerous entrances and exits, heading straight for the door at the very end of the hall, where there’s a bright red flashing sign labelled, ‘BACK EXIT - AUTHORISED PERSONNEL ONLY’. jisung and seungmin are right behind him, shoes banging loud against the metal flooring.

“i can’t believe we’re actually doing this,” woojin pants as they come to a stop, hyunjin unlocking the door with his identification mark, shoving it open to be pushed back by the intense gusts of wind raging outside.

hyunjin creeps outside, looking around as he slowly makes his way down the stairs with the other eight following behind him.

“look, the bus is over there, let’s go,” jeongin speaks, jumping over the railing when he gets to a safe height.

the wind blows their hair every which way, even so strong as to blow them sideways a little.

“come on, before they catch us!” chris calls, breaking out into a quick jog towards the open back of the vehicle. all of them follow behind him like he’s their leader.

jisung feels as if he is.

when they all load into the back of the bus, there’s dark, rugged clothes thrown hastily over the seats. chris throws off his pristine white uniform jacket, his black shirt underneath ironed and neat. he tears off his uniform jacket and throws on a hoodie he picks up from over the back of a seat.

jisung glances at the clothes on the other seats, and basically rips his own jacket off, throwing on something he finds there.

chris looks...weird but cool in clothes that aren’t just plain white.

eventually, everyone is ripping off their jackets, tearing the white, jean like material of their pants, messing up their perfectly straightened, perfectly styled hair. minho slams the back doors shut, locking them as chris jumps over the front seat and shoves one of the keys into the ignition.

_“sector 4 guards, step out of the vehicle now! i repeat, step out of the vehicle now!”_

when chris starts driving, hyunjin slides open the back window and kisses them the middle finger.

“we’re stray kids! we can’t live in this society anymore, so good riddance!” hyunjin yells.  
“your stupid, fabricated world can get fucked!” minho yells out after him.

jeongin and seungmin snort and changbin joins hyunjin in giving them the bird.

jisung can’t believe that this is what he’s going to have to deal with from now on.

 

 

when they crash through the barrier, everything goes white, and jisung feels himself falling.

 

 

jisung groans and rolls over onto his back, peeking open one eye. it’s bright outside, which is new. he sits up in his place, shifting the weight of another person from his stomach onto his lap. it’s minho, he realises, and he looks around. all of them are passed out in a heap on the floor of the bus, dirt and dust staining their previously pristine white pants and shoes, limbs tangled in a mess.

“what the fuck,” jisung groans, carefully shifting minho’s head off of his lap so he can stand up.

he wipes at the window where dust has collected, and gasps at the sight before him. everywhere around them is plain rolling fields, sky tinted bluish-pink, grass the greenest jisung’s ever seen. there’s a fawn somewhere near the little lake off in the distance, and jisung turns when someone else stirs on the floor.

it’s felix. the blonde boy sits up and looks around him, eventually meeting jisung’s eyes.

“where are we?” felix stands, dusting his pants off as he carefully steps over the others.  
“land of the strays. look at how pretty it is outside!” jisung wipes away more of the dust on the window so felix can look outside with him.  
felix’s jaw drops when he looks out the window. “holy crap, does the sky actually get that bright?”

“apparently so.”

the duo turn and see chris sitting awake in the front seat, woojn leaning against his leg, still asleep. one by one, the other six boys stir, each getting up to look outside. hyunjin manages to pry open the door to the outside, and cold wind gushes into the bus.

“holy shit,” changbin mutters, “the air here is so different from back there.”  
“you’re telling me that the strays have been living with this for the past hundreds of years? and we were stuck with that stale, crusty ass air for how long?” woojin dusts off his ass as he gets up, and chris hums in agreement.

“let’s go outside,” hyunjin suggests, and all of them nod.

jisung can’t describe the feeling of fresh air hitting his face, all he can say is that it feels incredibly nice. the grass rustles beneath his feet as he follows just behind chris.

“guys, look over there!” jeongin points a little ways into the distance, where there’s a huge run down building.  
“you think anyone’s in there?” seungmin asks, cocking his head, stuffing his hands into his pockets.

“only one way to find out,” hyunjin shrugs, breaking out into a sprint before any of them have a chance to argue against him,

minho and felix chase after him, seungmin, changbin, jeongin and jisung right behind them.

“kids,” woojin smiles, looking at chris for a second before following after them.  
“kids indeed,” chris agrees.

 

 

when they get there, they’re all tired and out of breath. jeongin drops to the ground dramatically and felix sits himself down on a small stack of tyres near the entrance.

jisung bangs on the metal door, pressing his ear against it to see if he can hear any movement from inside.

“no one’s inside,” jisung sighs, “but how do _we_ get inside?”

jisung thinks it’s just comedic timing when changbin leans against a square of metal leaning against the wall and ends up falling through with a loud ‘fuck!’.

“guess we found a way inside,” seungmin snickers, stepping over changbin’s groaning form.

“i’m pretty sure my back’s got crippling depression now,” changbin grumbles as woojin helps him up with a smile.

when they all file in one by one, they all mutter a ‘woah’ at just how big the interior is. it looks like an abandoned warehouse, but everything still looks good and usable.

felix speaks up then, “do you think this would be an okay place to stay?”  
“yeah, i guess so,” minho muses, and the others nod.

chris stuffs his hands into the pockets of his hoodie, looking around.

“then what should we call it?” jeongin asks.

everyone goes silent.

chris walks over to a stack of boxes in the corner of the room, opening one to find some cloth and a couple cans of spray paint.

“what about ‘ _sector 9_ ’?” felix suggests.  
“i’m sick of hearing the word ‘sector’,” chris speaks, laying the cloth onto the floor and shaking a can of red paint.  
“how about…” jisung starts, “ _district 9_?”

“ _district 9_ ,” chris contemplates it for a moment before smiling. “perfect.”

the eight of them watch as chris hastily writes the words on the cloth, some of the red ink bleeding against the already blackened fabric.

“they don’t belong here,” jisung smiles, ruffling his hair a little more.  
“this is our district,” felix snickers as changbin helps chris tie the cloth to a long rod laying around.

“district 9.”

**Author's Note:**

> i love stray kids so fucking much wowie
> 
> IF YOU CAN READ MILITARY CODE THEN GOOD JOB LMAO YES THOSE WORDS MEAN SOMETHING
> 
> unbetaed bc im lazy as all hell lmAOOO
> 
> hmu on tumblr - @jisxngie


End file.
